You should know

I'm a meat-eater. I'm not exclusively a meat-eater, and there are plenty of vegetarian food out there I quite like. But you know what else I quite like? Hamburgers.

Brian and I were in New Jersey looking for somethig good to eat. We passed a Cheeburger Cheeburger and I had heard they were good, so we decided to check it out.

Another day, I was in New York to do some wedding planning. Chris had work, so I had the day to myself. I went to the Museum of Modern Art (I can never convince anyone to go with me, so I might as well go by myself!) and found Burger Heaven about a block and a half away. The price was right, so I went for it.

As its name suggests, the Dog House is a hot dog stand that sells hamburgers, rather than a burger joint proper. I was out with Brian again, outlet shopping in Delaware, and he wanted to go to a place he, and his father before him, had gone to as a child.

So?

At Cheeburger Cheeburger, Brian and I opted to skip the fries. Sure, they looked great, but the burgers were huge. Beverage-wise, Brian got iced tea ($2.19), while I got a VanillaCola (Pepsi flavored with vanilla syrup, $2.29) -- tasty, but not as good as Coke done the same way. I drank about half of mine before my meal arrived. Granted, it was peak dinner hours on a weekend, but service was pretty slow. Still, the drink was huge and I had more than enough to get me through without needing a refill.

As for our burgers, we were good and both got the Classic ($5.49)-- the smallest burger at 5.5 oz. Yes, that's a big burger, but it's downright dainty compared to Famous Pounder, which is over 20oz of meat, pre-cooking. If you finish one of these, you get your picture posted to the Wall of Fame.

You get your choice of toppings. Brian just got cheddar cheese and A1 Steak Sauce. I skipped the cheese, and got tomato, onion, guacamole, and ranch dressing. Tasty, but next time I think I'll skip the onion if I get the guac, and maybe get the ranch on the side as my burger got pretty drippy.

The condiments were a must-have, though. We got our burgers well-done, and while they tasted great, they were definitely on the dry side. Good, but a bit overrated.

Burger Heaven was something else. I took lunch a bit on the late side, but still within the normal lunch hour. I was seated quickly, and ordered a Classic Beef Burger ($6.55), but had to pay extra for lettuce and tomatoes ($0.95). I also had a Coke ($2.05), but again skipped the fries.

While the burgers don't come with lettuce and tomato by default, they do come with red relish (tastes like chunky ketchup; not my thing but not bad), a big slice of fresh onion, and three large pickle wedges. They also come with mayo on the side, which I love because while I like a little something to moisten the roll a bit, most places that add mayo put about half a gallon on, which is just disgusting.

I ordered my burger medium, which may not have been the world's greatest idea, since the meat was a bit pinker on the inside than I usually like in ground beef. On the other hand, it was so tender and juicy that the burger was falling apart in my hands. Delicious.

Over the to Dog House. Again, as the name suggests, this place focuses more on hot dog than hamburgers, and with a few exceptions, I do not like hot dogs (Gray's Papaya? Big exception. Yum).

If you eat in, you sit right at the counter, which is not something I love to start. I just prefer seats with backs. Your food is served up to order, with your choice of toppings.

Brian got a massive hot dog with mustard($2.75), and a Coke ($1.50). I got a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and onion ($2.50), and a lemonade ($1.50). The burger was decent; not especially memorable, but tasty enough. I had no complaints. The scene wasn't really my thing, though. This is probably my issues screaming through, but I felt sort of like I was intruding on a group of people who all knew each other already, and who were nothing like me. That's not a feeling I like.

Also, the Dog House doesn't have an online menu, so I can't vouch for the exact prices, but everything was much cheaper than it was at either of the other places.

Rating

Try them
They're all good, depending what you're looking for and where you are. Burger Heaven was easily the best, but Cheeburger Cheeburger was great for atmosphere and sheer size of the burger, and the Dog House had the best deal for the money. Next time, I think might go with takeout from the Dog House, though.